Petaluma festival celebrates ‘heart warrior’

The July 30 ‘We Ben-Jamin’ music festival at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds benefits a local couple and their son, Benjamin Henderson, who was diagnosed with a long list of birth defects.|

Benjamin Henderson is only 14 months old, but he’s already undergone more surgeries and logged more hours in the hospital than many adults have over the course of a lifetime.

Henderson was diagnosed with VACTERL, a long list of birth defects, about 11 hours after he was born in May 2015 in his Forestville home. He underwent his first surgery at 36 hours old after being rushed in an ambulance to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, spending the first month of his life in medical care. Since then, he’s undergone five other surgeries, including an open heart procedure, to combat life-threatening issues.

But Henderson’s mother, Sophia Williams, a Casa Grande High School gradate and longtime Petaluma resident, said the traces of her now 1-year-old son’s struggle are outshined by his sunny outlook. He’s learning to walk, and his first word was “yeah.” He’s always smiling, and he loves playing with cars and drumming, she said, adding that the family is “for the most part done for a while,” with intensive medical procedures.

“We feel really blessed Ben is so content and so happy - if anyone had anything to complain about, it should be him, but he really doesn’t,” said Williams, who works as a midwife.

Ben’s positivity is something his parents and his myriad supporters are hoping to capture at the upcoming “We Ben-Jamin’” music festival at the Petaluma Fairgrounds from 1-9 p.m. July 30, where five bands will take the stage amid a day packed with family-friendly events, food, and a silent auction to raise funds for the family and celebrate Henderson.

Williams said she hasn’t tallied the medical bills, but said the festival will help her and her partner, Spencer Henderson, who owns a local music equipment company, combat the debt incurred from the procures, and for the ongoing monitoring for their son. At 14 months, his lungs are the size of a newborn’s, Williams said, and he will likely have to undergo more future heart procedures.

The idea for the festival was born during the open heart procedure in November, when Williams and Spencer Henderson talked of celebrating their son and his battle when the bulk of the surgeries were wrapped up.

With help from her family and friends, the festival became a reality, with renowned bass player Bobby Vega taking the stage, along with Santa Rosa-based indie band “Girls and Boys,” rock act “Mood Ring,” and swing-surf hybrid band “Van Goat,” as well as “Lungs and Limbs,” a synth-pop act from San Francisco.

Petaluman Sue Lassen, a longtime family friend who’s helping Sophia Williams’ mother, Eve Williams, to organize the festival, said donations for an auction have been pouring in, including a baseball signed by Giant’s player Joe Panik and a guitar made by Margen Wells that’s valued at more than $4,500.

Local producers are also lending a hand with donations, including Revive Komucha and Petaluma Hills Brewery, Lassen said. Camelbak is also loaning the organizers a water filtration system to cut down on plastic water bottle waste, she said.

Area music businesses have also given equipment and guitars to the festival, she said.

“It’s very heartwarming and gratifying, and it really cements my love for this town,” Lassen said. “It’s just really amazing to see. It’s been a scary year and it’s nice to pretty much be on the other side.”

“Benji Nation,” the network of support, goes beyond just the event, Sophia Williams said. People from Petaluma and beyond have rallied to support the family, buying shirts with a logo to celebrate Benjamin Henderson and wearing it on each of his surgery days, posting on social media to show solidarity. Local families established a meal train and Williams’ parents moved from Petaluma to Forestville to be on call to help out.

“We have been blown away by community support,” Sophia Williams said.

She said the festival something the family hopes to put on every year to give back.

“It’s not just about him, it’s about the whole community we’re part of,” she said.

Tickets are $40 for adults, $20 for teens, and those ages 12 and under get in free to the event, where the “little heart warrior” will be the star of the show.

“Of course he’s going to be there,” Sophia Williams said. “He’s been practicing his dance moves.”

For more information, visit webenjamin.com.

(Contact Hannah Beausang at hannah.beausang@arguscourier.com. On Twitter @hannahbeausang.)

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